Second Chance Bill Hearing Scheduled for Thursday

Madison, WI –The Senate Committee on Transportation, Public Safety, and Veterans and Military Affairs will hold a public hearing on the Second Chance Bill (Senate Bill 308/Assembly Bill 387) at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31 in State Capitol Room 330 Southwest.

The Second Chance Bill would return first-time, nonviolent 17-year-old offenders to juvenile court jurisdiction. The legislation would reverse portions of current law enacted in 1996.

State Bar President Patrick J. Fiedler, who previously served as a Dane County judge and the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, will be testifying in favor of the bill.

For more information contact Attorney Andrea Gage, public relations coordinator, State Bar of Wisconsin. She can be reached at org agage wisbar wisbar agage org, or by phone at (608) 250-6025.

Fiedler will be joined by Marc Levin, policy director for the conservative group Right on Crime, a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Read a joint report on the bill from the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the MacIver Institute here.

Supporters of the Second Chance Bill include the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, the State Public Defender, the Wisconsin Council of Churches, Disability Rights Wisconsin, WISDOM, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the Wisconsin Association of Family and Children’s Agencies, Wisconsin Family Ties, A Helping Heart, the National Association of Social Workers—WI Chapter, and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Who:

State Bar President Patrick J. Fiedler

Right on Crime Policy Director Marc Levin

Members of the 2nd Chance Alliance

What:

Public Hearing, Senate Committee on Transportation, Public Safety, and Veterans and Military Affairs